Claire LongworthA Marriage of Arts
and Crafts: William and Evelyn De MorganWednesday 17th April 2013
- 7.30pm for 8:00pmat the Watts Gallery, Compton

William De Morgan was the most important ceramic artist of the Arts and
Crafts Movement. He was a close friend and colleague of William Morris and
his early designs reflect this close partnership. His wife Evelyn De Morgan
nee Pickering was a highly respected artist in her own right, painting in
a style which drew inspiration from both the pre-Raphaelite and symbolist
movements. The couple were married in 1887 and in addition to their art,
they became involved in many of the leading issues of the day including,
prison reform, pacifism and spiritualism.

Claire Longworth studied Design History at the Royal College of Art,
London, before going on to work in the research department at the V&A.
She has also taught design history at several art schools in both the UK
and Germany and has guest lectured for the Art Fund, Victorian Society and
many other organisations. Claire has been the curator of the De Morgan Centre
since 2002.

Geoff BrandwoodA Practice like
No Other: Sharpe, Paley and Austin of LancasterMonday 18 February 2013
- 7.30pm for 8:00pmat the Watts Gallery, Compton

The greatest provincial architectural practice in late Victorian and
Edwardian England was founded in the mid-1830s by the multi-talented Edmund
Sharpe – architect, engineer, businessman, politician, and winner
of the RIBA's Royal Gold Medal. Sharpe’s successor E.G. Paley developed
the practice and in 1867 took on the man who elevated it to greatness –
Hubert Austin, described as an architect of genius by Pevsner. The firm
established a national reputation, especially for its churches, ranging
from urban masterpieces to delightful country ones imbued with the spirit
of Arts and Crafts. The firm also undertook commissions for almost every
imaginable building type, from great country houses to the modest pub extension.

Geoff Brandwood is author of The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and
Austin, published by English Heritage. He has a longstanding interest
in Victorian and Edwardian architecture and is the author of a study on
the church architect, Temple Moore. He also co-authored English Heritage’s
Licensed to Sell: The History and Heritage of the Public House,
2004. He is an active member of the Victorian Society and its former Chair,
2001-7.

Olive MaggsThe Gresham Press Institute,
an Arts and Crafts building and the Publishing UnwinsWednesday 20 March 2013
- 7.30pm for 8:00pmat the Watts Gallery, Compton

The Gresham Press Institute was founded in 1879 by George Unwin, offering
educational courses in art and science, lectures and entertainment for his
work force at his Printing Works in Chilworth. In 1895 he commissioned the purpose-built
Greshambury Institute, designed by the architect W H Seth-Smith but tragically
Unwin’s Printing Works burnt down the same year. George Unwin was a friend
of John Ruskin and a philanthropic mill owner. Using surviving material
this lecture will explore the progressive Gresham Press Institute programme
and the fascinating Arts and Crafts building which still survives as St
Thomas’s Church in Chilworth.

Olive Maggs is a well known art historian who has taught and examined
History of Art A-Level for many years and lectured for various organisations.
She currently works in the Watts Gallery Learning Centre as a freelancer
and continues to run courses locally. She has published on the work of the
pioneering Victorian artist Anna Lea Merritt in Anna Lea Merritt: wall
paintings in a Surrey Church (ACMS 2011)

With a unique insight into Morris’s home at Kelmscott Manor, this
lecture will concentrate on William Morris, the designer and craftsman rather
than on William Morris the poet and social reformer. Sally Sandys-Renton
- a Blue Badge Guide for Cambridge - was brought up in Farnham, Surrey and
thanks to her father, Dick Dufty, and his restoration and curating of Kelmscott
Manor for the Society of Antiquaries, she lived on and off at Kelmscott
Manor for about 15 years, helping with caretaking and showing visitors round
the house. Sally lectured on the treasures of the Fitzwilliam Museum during
the Society’s Cambridge tour in 2012.

David A. HillAspects of Secession Architecture
and Design in HungaryThursday 31 October 2013 - 7.30pm for 8:00pm
at the Watts Gallery, Compton

Hungary was a major player in the pan-European Arts and Crafts/Art Nouveau movement, with its own great artists, designers and architects
and a number of original features which make its products distinctive. This
lecture illustrated by the speaker’s own photographs, will aim to
introduce the key elements of the Hungarian secession and relate them to
what was being produced elsewhere.

David Hill is an educational materials writer and teacher trainer for
English language and literature who, largely through work, has had the opportunity
to live full-time in Italy (14 years), Serbia (6 years) and Hungary (15
years), and travel to 45 other countries. He has studied art, architecture
and design widely, and particularly the period 1830-1920, for over 40 years,
photographing everything he finds, particularly in lesser-known places.

Professor Dean HawkesThe Arts and
Crafts House and the Climate of EnglandThursday 28 November 2013
- 7.30pm for 8:00pmat the Watts Gallery, Compton

“We are not Greeks, nor have we a Grecian climate …”
Charles Voysey made this passionate statement, signifying the importance
of climate in shaping architecture, in his essay, ‘The quality of
fitness in architecture’, published in 1912 in The Craftsman.
Regard for the unique qualities of the English climate runs through the
written statements of the architects of the Arts and Crafts Movement and
is evident as a fundamental influence in their designs for houses. The lecture
will explore this theme as it may be seen in the works of Voysey, Baillie
Scott, Prior, Parker & Unwin and Mackintosh.

Dean Hawkes is emeritus professor of architectural design at Cardiff
University and emeritus fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge. He has been
interested in the architecture of the Arts and Crafts Movement since the
1970s and curated the exhibition Barry Parker and Raymond Unwin, Architects
at the Architectural Association in London, in 1980. His books include,
Modern Country Homes in England: The Arts and Crafts Architecture of
Barry Parker, (1986, paperback edition, 2010) and Architecture
and Climate: An environmental history of British architecture, 1600-2000,
(2012).

We start the day with a continuation of our studies of the work of Sir
Ernest George, with a visit to Ewhurst – to Woolpits, built
by George between 1885-8 for Henry Doulton, the ceramics manufacturer. Doulton
had wanted a place in the country and George certainly obliged with this
fine new house with its thin red brick and terracotta decoration. The building
occupies a commanding position with views to the south and the South Downs.
Now a school it still manages to impress and we have the rare opportunity
to visit and see the inside of this interesting example of George &
Peto architecture. Our visit to Woolpits will be followed by lunch at The
Bull’s Head in Ewhurst.

Then on to Cranleigh School for our tour of the school, purpose-built
by Henry Woodyer during 1865-1869 in his trademark Gothic Revival style
and featuring a fine chapel. Woodyer, who was born in Guildford and lived
in Grafham purportedly built all his 300 commissions within a train journey
of home – including St Peter’s in Hascombe, St Andrew’s
Grafham, St Martins’ in Dorking and Shalford school. Society member,
Robin Stannard, who has carried out considerable research into the work
of the architect will provide an illustrated presentation and lead the group
on a guided tour.

Croydon Airport Visitor Centre The Purley Way, first
suggested in about 1908, as the first section of a London to Brighton motor
road, which by-passed Croydon later became the principal industrial district
of Croydon. The prestige of the road was considerably enhanced in 1928,
when Croydon Airport was remodelled, and the new airport terminal and Aerodrome
Hotel were sited on the Purley Way.Croydon Aerodrome had officially opened
on 29 March 1920. Early British airlines found it difficult to operate profitably
in competition with heavily subsidised foreign airlines and in 1924 the
British government agreed to subsidise a British national airline known
as Imperial Airways Ltd. The new airport functioned until 1959 when it closed.
Our visit includes a tour of the terminal building with the two exhibitions
and the control tower. We adjourn to the Aerodrome Hotel for lunch.

After lunch we drive to The Webb Estate for a 2 hour
guided walk. William Webb (1862 - 1930), a visionary local estate agent
spent his lifetime developing his Garden Estate idea. He purchased 260 acres
of land west of Purley town centre in 1888 and began to develop it in line
with his own principles of housing development. The land was cleared of
fences and fifty plots were laid out divided by privet hedges. When building
began in 1898, houses were set on predefined plots separated by mature boundary
hedges and established planting. Webb expressed these design principles
in his book, Garden First in Land Development. The Webb Estate
was designed with the character of country lanes and English garden villages.
Webb’s experiment to build a ‘garden home for city men’
pre-dates the garden city of Letchworth and the garden suburb of Hampstead
and grew out of the influence of the Arts and Crafts Movement on garden
design at the turn of the century. It is the overall concept and execution
of the generous and imaginative planting which persuaded the London Borough
of Croydon to designate it as a Conservation Area.

The afternoon will end with tea at a local resident’s home on Upper
Woodcote Village Green.

The Lutyens Trust has once again kindly allowed the Society to hold a
study day at
Goddards during their summer week at the house. Sir Edwin Lutyens designed
Goddards in 1898-1900 for Sir Frederick Mirrielees as a place where 'Ladies
of Small Means' might rest and enjoy the courtyard garden planted by Gertrude
Jekyll. Goddards was given to the
Lutyens Trust in 1991 and
has been expertly restored by the Landmark Trust for holiday lettings. The
Lutyens Trust archive is held in the Study-Library. During our visit there
will be an opportunity to explore the house and garden at Goddards with
a guided tour.

Our theme for the day is Collecting Antiques of the Arts and Crafts
Period, the idea being to provide a sociable setting for members to
share their experiences of collecting. You are invited to bring along an
item(s) from your own collection and talk about it for about five minutes:
explain why you like it, how it came into your possession, what you know
about the designer, the manufacturer, the process for production and how
to identify similar pieces. Do bring along any relevant published or historic
material. We are hoping for an informal Antiques Road Show, but
without the valuation. If you have a mystery item or one that you have failed
to identify – bring that too! Of course, you do not need to be a collector
to join in the day. Depending on the number participating we may be able
to assemble a short PowerPoint presentation of images relating to the items.
A Sussex chair by Morris & Co., a copper jug
featured in The Studio magazine and contemporary books on Arts
and Crafts building construction are some of the pieces likely to appear
at the event. We are awaiting confirmation but do hope to have an expert
in Arts and Crafts antiques present.

During the afternoon we have a generous invitation from members of the
Society to visit their local Arts and Crafts house, dated 1889, reputably
designed by architect Hugh Thackeray Turner (not yet proven, but he lived
in the area at the time). The house was significantly remodelled in the
late 1990s by architect Roderick Gradidge with Stedman and Blower as managing
architects. Gradidge received his only RIBA design award (jointly) for the
east end. The house is authentically presented and the garden has been developed
over the last ten years. A short presentation about the house will feature
during the morning.

A visit to Ottershaw: Greatwood by
MH Baillie Scott and Christ Church by Sir Gilbert Scott

Wednesday 26th June 2013 10:30 – 16:00

In the morning an opportunity to visit
Christ Church, Ottershaw,
designed in the studio of Sir Gilbert Scott with stained glass windows and
the reredos by C E Kempe. This church was the gift of one man, Sir Edward
Colebrooke, who came to live in Ottershaw in 1859. We will have a talk on
both the church and Colebrooke.

After a buffet lunch at a local Inn we will move to Greatwood, by kind
permission of the owners. This is an imposing house designed by M H Baillie
Scott and built in 1914. The house represents the striking use of the long
sloping roof as a mediating element between modern and traditional architecture.
The entrance façade gives little indication of what lies within, the great
hall with imposing fireplace, a minstrels’ gallery, a massive beamed
ceiling and a recessed dining room - all lovingly restored by the owners.
We will also have afternoon tea at Greatwood.

Following the Society's successful annual residential tours of Cambridge,
Kent, Malvern and Bournemouth, we are planning a longer visit to North West
England to see a number of museums and buildings of Arts and Crafts interest.

On day one, we start in the early afternoon at
Eaton Hall Chapel
built in the 1870s with Morris panels and outstanding stained glass by Frederic
Shields, then on to
Eccleston village,
one of the most attractive of the Eaton Estate villages with a range of
John Douglas’s domestic architecture and St Mary’s Church by
GF Bodley. Then on to
Burton Manor with
an original Thomas Mawson garden where we will be guided after tea.

The focus for our second day is
Port
Sunlight, a garden village founded in 1888 by the soap manufacturer
W.H. Lever, later Lord Leverhulme, for his factory workers. Port Sunlight
holds a unique place in the history of town planning: it represents the
boldest vision of providing industrial workers with decent sanitary housing
in a considered architectural and picturesque form. We start with a guided
tour of the Lady
Lever Art Gallery, with its important collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings.
After a café lunch the Port Sunlight Museum will provide an introductory
film, guided tour of exhibition and, after tea, a guided walk of Port Sunlight
Village with its public and domestic buildings by a variety of architects.
We return to our hotel for a pre-dinner lecture by Barrie and Wendy Armstrong,
authors of The Arts and Crafts Movement in the North West of England.

For our third day we travel by coach, commencing with the Williamson
Art Gallery and Museum to see the Della Robbia collection of ceramics. Then
onto Liverpool and the Church of St John the Baptist by G F Bodley at Tue
Brook, with Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co windows and Kempe decorations.
Next on to Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral for a tour including the crypt
by Edwin Lutyens. Lunch is at the
Philharmonic
Dining Rooms, an historic pub interior with much Art Nouveau metal ware,
marble, ceramics, stained glass - and food. In the afternoon Sefton Park
offers three churches: St Clare’s by Leonard Stokes, The Unitarian
Church by Thomas & Percy Worthington and St Agnes and St Pancras by
JL Pearson as well as the St Agnes Vicarage by Richard Norman Shaw. This
will be followed by a walk into the park for tea and to see the magnificent
Palm House, built in 1896, before
returning to our hotel by coach.

On the fourth day we hope to visit
Thornton Manor with its Thomas
Mawson gardens, which was in the hands of the Leverhulme family for over
110 years. We shall explore the village of
Thornton Hough
where, under the philanthropic ownership of Joseph Hirst, a small model
village was created. Later it was acquired by Lever, who engaged his favorite
architects, including John Douglas, Grayson & Ould, Jonathon Simpson
and his son, James Lomax-Simpson on further schemes of improvement justifying
its conservation area designation. Most elements of the tour are now in
place although there might be some small changes. We shall stay for three
nights, Monday 9th to Wednesday 11th September, at
Thornton Hall Hotel, Thornton
Hough, Wirral an AA 4 star hotel, 3 AA Rosettes for fine dining and World
Luxury Spa Awards Winner 2013. Provisional bookings have been made with
the hotel.

We end our visits for 2013 with a trip led by architectural historian
and Society member, Geoff Brandwood to some of London’s most interesting
Victorian public houses.

Dr Geoff Brandwood published his book
Britain's Best Real Heritage Pubs
earlier this year. Of the twelve central London pubs listed in his book,
we shall visit four of those that particularly reflect their Victorian heritage.

We shall start at the Princess Louise near Holborn tube station;
it was built in the 1870’s with sumptuous displays of tiling and glass.
We shall then move on to The Cittie of Yorke in High Holborn and
the Viaduct Tavern in Newgate Street before ending the afternoon
at the Black Friar at Blackfriars – a pub “unlike any
other” and dating from 1873.